Calgary Stampeders Rene Paredes, left, and Rob Maver were the best kicking/punting duo in the Canadian Football League this season, but there’s a good chance one of them won’t be here next season due to the Ottawa RedBlacks expansion draft.

It’s a scenario that has been on the table since the start of the 2013 Canadian Football League season and a scenario neither Rene Paredes or Rob Maver wants to imagine.

But on Dec. 16 — when the Ottawa RedBlacks’ roster starts taking shape in the CFL Expansion Draft — the CFL’s most efficient kicking/punting duo could be split up.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Paredes said as the Stampeders cleared out of McMahon Stadium on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West final. “I don’t want Maver to go anywhere. We have a good thing here. It’s great. We’re a great duo and we don’t want to break that. (Special teams co-ordinator Mark) Kilam wants us back. But the worst part is the business side and we can’t control any of that.

“We’ll see what happens.”

By, Dec. 9, each team must submit a list of protected players — six non-imports, 10-imports, and a quarterback. Teams can only lose one player at quarterback, kicker, or punter. And, with the Stampeders likely to protect Paredes, who was the CFL’s most accurate kicker with points (213) and finished the year as Calgary’s nominee for the CFL’s special teams player of the year, Maver could be left exposed.

As of Monday, however, the subject did not come up in any conversations with head coach and general manager John Hufnagel.

“It is what it is,” Maver said. “There’s not really too much to discuss, but if there was something to discuss, I’m sure it would happen in the next few days. But as of right now, we haven’t had any formal talks.”

Maver’s numbers spoke for themselves in the 2013 regular season, his second assuming full-time punting duties.

In 18 games, the 27-year-old punted 124 times for 5,661 yards and a 45.7-yard average, best in the CFL among punters with 70 more attempts. Maver also led the league with a 43-yard net average (distance of the punt minus return yards) and was a key factor in the Stampeders special teams coverage unit. He twice, won the CFL special teams player of the week this season, earned a West all-star nod for the second consecutive season, and was a CFL all-star in 2013.

“Certain things need to be in place for you to be successful and we have a really good combination here,” said the Brampton, Ont., native. “Why would we want to change that? We were successful last year. We each got better this year and we’re each going to continue to keep working. That’s the kind of guys we are.”

The Stampeders have been in an enviable position with the positive working relationships between Paredes, Maver, long-snapper Randy Chevrier, and special teams co-ordinator Kilam.

Drafted in 2010 (first round, fifth overall) to replace Sandro DeAngelis, he’d won the CFL scoring title with 185 points that season. But the following season, he tore a quadriceps muscle that kept him out of 2011 and Paredes emerged as the team’s No. 1 kicker.

The door opened for Maver with the departure of Burke Dales to free agency in the 2011 off-season and, with Paredes as the Stamps’ kicker, he dominated in 2012.

“Typically when a team has guys in those positions that are doing well and work well together, they usually play together for a while,” said Maver who had signed a contract extension with the Stampeders last winter. “Obviously, it’s a situation that benefits both of us and we love working together, too. And I feel good about what we did special-teams wise this year.

“But, I mean, we have the best kicker in football and you’re only allowed to protect one kicker . . .”

So, for now, Maver is in wait-and-see mode.

“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “I like it here. I want to be here. It’s a strange situation. How often does this happen? You sign a long contract with a team and, barring a trade, you think you’re going to be with a team for a while. But (with the expansion draft) you just never know.”

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